Thoughts and comments of a parent of 3 students in Baltimore City's Public Schools.

Monday, January 26, 2009

A letter

Dear Governor O’Malley,

I am appalled at the sacrifices you are asking my children to make in the quality of their education, while not asking the children in richer counties to do the same. Considering the disparities that exist in the educational opportunities between Baltimore City and the richer counties, justice demands that the rich be asked to make greater sacrifices. Strangely you have chosen to increase funding in some counties. Weren’t you recently lauding the progress that has been made in the City Schools? Why, at the first glimmer of hope would you ask for such drastic and disproportionate cuts? My family has three children in three different schools in Baltimore and we are committed to being actively involved and supportive of all of these schools. This includes financial support, even though this can be hard to do in difficult financial times. We do this because we know that improving the quality of public education is a fundamental step in turning around the quality of life, long term in Baltimore City. I am asking you, and the State of Maryland to make the hard choices to similarly support our schools.

City Schools have been making progress because of everybody's hard word and because there has been more equitable (I won't say fair, but moving in that direction) funding for Baltimore's schools. These proposed budget cuts are frustrating and frightening to me - after spending the last ten years in the City Schools I finally have a sense of hope for the system as a whole. I'm inspired by what's being accomplished and I feel vindicated in the choices I've made for my kids. I fear that with the budget cuts that you are asking for, momentum will be lost and progress reversed.

Please, reconsider your budget proposal. I know there is a financial crisis that needs to be addressed, but we need a solution that does not take away the educational opportunities of the poorest kids in the state. It’s just not fair.

4 comments:

It's called triage. During natural disasters, they have to make harsh decisions about how receives necessary care and who is allowed to die. This is because resources are scarce and trying to save everyone will increase the level of pain felt and the number who die. The same is true with schools and funding. They cannot fund everyone. So, they allocate resources to where they will be most useful. With regard to schooling, county schools are guaranteed to get a significant return on investment. Baltimore City schools have failed to produce results for decades. So the scarce resources are going to the good schools. Tragic, not really. County schools would have enjoyed higher levels of success had Baltimore City Public Schools got their act together years ago rather than wallow in their idiocy.

Everybody is entitled to an opinion and given how few comments I get, yours stay here. My only question is why, if you think Baltimore City’s Public Schools are such a total waste of money, would you bother to read, let alone comment on, a blog by a mom of three City School students that is focused on talking about the school issues?

I've written to O'Malley, but given the relative safety of his position, I doubt he'll respond favorably (or at all -- I was extremely irate.) He couldn't wait to shake the dust of our city off his precious boots and he's not going to look back. Most folks from the surrounding counties only care about the city if they have a high-paying downtown job or if they visit our museums. They do not, and will not care that our students continue to be cheated of a decent education. And it's no wonder the politicians are redistributing the education dollars to the wealthiest county in America -- they know where their bread is buttered. Nobody cares, and the campaign money comes from the county anyway. I don't know if you've written to the State delegates yet, but they are more likely to respond and to actually give a damn than Martin.

I happened upon it through blogtimore. Then my instinct to better the world through educating people kicked in and I provided you (Free of charge) the benefits of my very expensive education in the hopes that somebody would benefit.

Kind of like city school teachers I know. They realize that is largely hopeless, but do it anyway in the belief that somebody will benefit.

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Cast of Characters

In the interest of annonymity, and to keep things from getting akward I'll be using these terms for my kids:

msk - my special kid. Actually they're all special, but this one is receiving special ed services. He has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder & Attention Deficit Disorder and is on the more severe end of the autism spectrum

fcs - fantastic college student

tek - twice exception kid; gifted and learning disable at the same time

ess - elementary school student - all done with that now!

b-d - behavior dude, the behavioral technician that works with msk 10 to 20 hours a week. A service provided through the autism waiver

About this blog

This will be anonymous because schools can be pretty political, but hopefully constructive. My eldest child entered Kindergarten 13 years ago and I figure I've got another 6 to 9 years until my youngest finishes. By this fall between the three children we've been enrolled in six different schools. There have been CST meetings, IEP meetings, PTO meetings, PTA meetings, fund raisers and vast quantities of homework. We are in public schools because we believe that justice starts with a decent free education for all and if I want decent public education being personally involved is the first step.

Glossary and Acronym List

Autism Spectrum - the spread of behaviors that define autistics. The primary areas are difficulties with communication, social interactions and change/lack of order. You can see the official diagnosis criteria here.

CST - Child Support Team, a group (including parents) that meets when a student is having difficulties

ESY - Extended School Year. In our experience, related to special needs kids who go to school over breaks because there will be significant regression in skills over the break if they weren't in a school setting.

FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education. This is the right of every American child, but is usually a term about creating or finding a learning environment that works for a special needs student.

IEP - Individualized Education Plan. A written plan of goals and ways to achieve them. Typically for special needs students

PTO & PTA - Parent Teacher Organization & Association

SST - Student Support Team, I guess this is the new term that replaces CST